Building Wisdom in Leadership

In today’s society, we often see decisions being made that seem to lack wisdom. An example is when a company sees technological advances that could make their own product or service obsolete, but that organization’s leaders do nothing about it because they are profitable at the moment.

These decisions seem to lack foresight and are possibly due to short-term thinking (or what researchers call “post-logical thinking”⁴). Individuals that fall into post-logical thinking tend to do one or more of the following:

1. They only think of short-term solutions to problems. They will not or cannot think of long-term consequences of a decision.
2. They tend to react emotionally instead of logically to new information.
3. They respond to one part of the problem without taking in the whole situation.
4. They tend to blame others when problems arise.

Decisions should be wisely considered before acting.

Wisdom, the opposite of post-logical thinking, is thought to be something you acquire when you are older and have an abundance of experience to draw upon. What would you think if I told you this is not entirely true?

First, let us define wisdom. Researchers define it as the ability to perceive and analyze a situation with the capacity to take the right action at the correct moment. It is a complex human characteristic that includes decision making, emotional regulation, prosocial behavior (such as empathy and compassion), self-reflection, acceptance of uncertainty and decisiveness.¹

Researchers have shown that you can develop wisdom.⁵ They suggest learning from your experiences as a way to start.

Now, I know you are thinking that I just mentioned wisdom is more than just having an abundance of experience. Here is where "the not entirely true part" comes in.

You can do these things right now to build your wisdom:⁵

• Learn not only from your experiences, but learn each time you make a mistake.⁶
• Change your thinking about decisions from short-term solutions to thinking about how the decision affects you and others long term.
• Be a lifetime learner. Constantly be reading and learning.
• Be both self and situationally aware. Understand why you made a decision and how and why you react to decisions and problems. Always be aware of your surroundings and how your decision and reactions will affect the environment around you.²
• Be aware of your limitations with your knowledge. Accept that that no one knows everything and be willing to reach out for help when needed.

If you start with these researched suggestions, you will be well on your way to being wise.

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References 

1. Jeste, Dilip V., et al. "The New Science of Practical Wisdom." Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, vol. 62 no. 2, 2019, p. 216-236.
2. Endsley, M. (1995). Toward a Theory of Situation Awareness in Dynamic Systems. Human Factors, 37(1), 32–64.
3. Bartunek, J., & Necochea, R. (n.d.). Old Insights and New Times: Kairos, Inca Cosmology, and their Contributions to Contemporary Management Inquiry. Journal of Management Inquiry, 103–113.
4. Koplowitz, H. (1984, August). Post-logical thinking. Paper presented at the Harvard International Conference on Thinking, Cambridge, MA.
5. Bigelow, J. (1995). Developing managerial wisdom. Journal of Management Inquiry, 1, 143-153.
6. Ginat, D. (2003). The greedy trap and learning from mistakes. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 35(1), 11.